In Arkansas, the state’s circuit court is getting ready to reach a decision over the ownership and operation of the state’s fourth casino, the Protracted Litigation. 

The Arkansas Advocate reports that Judge Timothy Fox will soon make a decision about the case of the Legends Resort and Casino and their right to open a new casino in Pope County. 

The decision, which is expected to be made public within the next few days, will put an end to the issue that has been going on for the past four years questioning who should be the legitimate operator of the fourth legal casino in the state of Arkansas.

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The Rule of the Four Casinos

Gambling in casinos was legalized in the state when voters in 2018 validated Amendment 100 to the Constitution, which made the practice legal. 

The same amendment capped the number of casinos operating within the state at four. The Oaklawn (Hot Springs) and Southland (West Memphis) racetracks in the state each approved fifty percent of the applications.

The construction of a brand-new casino in Jefferson was given the green light, and the previous gambling establishment will now operate in Pope county.

The Quapaw Nation was able to get a license to construct the Saracen Casino Resort quite quickly after receiving the approval of local leaders located in and near Jefferson’s Pine Bluff.

The casino can be reached in forty minutes from Little Rock and features an 80,000-square-foot gaming area with more than 1,800 slot machines, a poker room, forty table games, and four restaurants on the premises. 

In September of this past year, the commission gave its blessing to a proposal that the Saracen Casino made in an effort to link the gaming machines in this state with machines from other states.

The Process Became More Complicated and Hard to Understand 

The application process for Pope County’s fourth casino license, on the other hand, became more complicated and difficult to understand. To begin, the Arkansas Racing Commission made the decision not to provide the license to any of the five individuals who had applied for it for the 2019 time period. 

The petitioners were unable to secure a letter of support from the relevant Pope County officials, which led to this result.

A year and a half later, the state commission that oversees thoroughbred and greyhound racing in the state presented Gulfside Casino Partnership with the license to operate a fourth casino in the state. 

At the same time, the Supreme Court of Arkansas came to the conclusion that the support letter for Gulfside that had been obtained from the previous Pope County judge was not a legitimate one. 

The contention made in this case was that the judge had not yet been appointed to their position when Gulfside submitted their application.

In Preparation for the Coming of the Cherokee Nation

As a consequence of this, the panel came to the conclusion that the license should be granted to Cherokee Nation Businesses LLC/Legends Resort and Casino LLC around the end of 2021. 

Since the firm’s license was placed on hold as a result of Gulfside’s appeal, the construction of the casino proved difficult for the corporation. According to the latter, Legends does not have the essential experience to run a gaming facility as required by the industry standards.

At the same time, the Cherokee people maintained that the only member of Legends Resort and Casino LLC is Cherokee Nation Businesses, which has the legal authority to operate a casino or other gaming establishment. 

They also mentioned that Cherokee Nation Business had teamed with Legends, who is a consulting company.

Making Sure that Everything is Record, Detailed and Accurate 

Because he wanted to make sure that the record would be complete for the Supreme Court, Judge Fox spent the majority of the hearing on Wednesday confirming the most recent timeline and additional details pertaining to this case. He explained that he did this because he wanted to make sure that the record would be accurate.

Dustin McDaniel, an attorney for the Legends and a former attorney general of the state, also filed a complaint against the circuit court in Pulaski County, further highlighting the parties’ displeasure with the pace and manner in which Fox handled the matter. 

Fox provided multiple parties with the opportunity to ask for his recusal during a hearing that took place on Tuesday. The chance to request the judge’s recusal was passed up by none of the parties.

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